The top three bestselling books of the 20th century are not that difficult to guess: the Bible, the Koran and Mao’s Little Red Book. Number four is perhaps a surprise. Scouting for Boys was written a century ago by Robert Baden-Powell, now a somewhat unfashionable figure who was once widely regarded as the most famous man in Britain.

(Source: The Observer)

But the truth is different, according to Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye and team captain on BBC2’s Have I Got News for You?

In fact, Hislop told The Observer last week, his study of Baden-Powell’s life to mark the centenary of the movement forced him to abandon his ‘snotty’ preconceptions and wonder what he and his teenage children had missed.

In making Ian Hislop’s Scouting for Boys, a documentary to be shown on BBC4 on Monday 14 May at 9pm, the journalist admits his assumptions were turned upside down.

‘In the Seventies and Eighties, Scouting had been deeply unfashionable and uncool and a slightly naff thing to join, and I’d just taken that on board,’ he said. ‘I went back and had a look at it and thought this is the most bizarre book, quite bonkers but also quite brilliant.’

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this ‘super-Earth’ lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,” explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

“Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth’s radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky – like our Earth – or covered with oceans.”

Gliese 581 C was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

A survey released this week by Accord, the Catholic Marriage Care Service, has shown that 33 per cent of Irish couples marry after only a one-year long relationship.The survey entitled “Married Life – the First 7 Years” is the first comprehensive study of its kind undertaken in Ireland.

According to the Shay Ellis, the National Director of ACCORD the research analysed “attitudes underpinning courtship, cohabitation, relationships, marriage and family size.”

“It also looks at money, overall happiness, and the role of the Church and State in supporting recently married couples.”

Bishop of Killaloe and President of Accord, Willie Walsh said: “This survey is clearly good news about marriage. It reassures us that the deeply felt human need for a life long loving relationship – which is marriage – is alive and well.”

I’m not going to even try to seriously explain the findings of this study, conducted by the university of Cambridge. Studies like this are a pile of pants. Italian or Dane; warm desserts makes you happy. Jabs in the eye make you unhappy.

Nonetheless, if nothing else but to educate myself further on our European neighbours, I’ve prepared a photo-collage of answers to the question no-one cares about.

The Finnish have almost exclusive access to these cuddly little balls of fun. Wolverines have been known to prey on fully-grown moose, but really they’re the happiest little critters to hit lapland since Rudolf revealed his illicit affair with Mary Magdalene.

3. Ireland

Fig rolls: They’re just lovely.

4. Sweden

Hot swedish blondes make everyone smile. As does this photo.

5. Netherlands

The 1958 Delta project. Completed in 2002, goal of the project was to reduce the risk of flooding in the Zeeland to once per 10,000 years. Delighted with themselves, they are.

Unhappiness TOP FIVE

1. Italy

Ah, now, it’s just far too beautiful. No one likes to feel that all they have to offer is unparalelled Roman architecture and breathtaking Tuscan landscape

2. Portugal

For being ever so slightly not as good as she used to be, and for using brackets in her song titles (see image), she has brought shame on the good people of portugal. The bad people of portugal are suprisingly happy.

3. Greece

The Persian wars. Always people to hold a grudge, the Greeks.

4. Germany

The Black Forest gateau or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte scandal. A misprint in a 2004 cookbook written by Germany’s most popular celebrity chef Harald Wohlfahrt had half the german housewife population accidently substitute mood suppressants for maraschino cherries. Would have never happened with a warm dessert.

5. France

The male French population is mostly at fault here. The Eiffel Tower is too large and throbbing a reminder of the men they’ll never be.

At 47 years old she has worked with over 50 leading designers and has one of the most recognisable faces in the world. And now the 11-inch fashion icon has branched out into beauty with what is set to be the most collectable make-up range of the season. So collectable in fact, that patrons are forbidden from buying more than one of any product.

“Many women’s first experiences with fashion and beauty were playing with Barbie. Today this fantasy continues with Barbie Loves MAC, a color collection that allows women to rediscover their inner girl,”-Richard Dickson, senior vice president of Marketing, Media and Entertainment, Worldwide, Mattel.

There is even a new limited edition MAC Barbie.

I would like to hereby and for the first time use my position as a blogger to defend this collection against criticism like this;

…MAC has turned to Barbie as the new face of beauty. …Barbie is a plastic mock-up of an unattainable female form. The models in the new Barbie Loves MAC ad campaign are styled to look like dolls; their facial expressions are vacant and frankly, a little frightening… Barbie Loves MAC rests on a more retro notion of women as empty silicone shells. I want to think that this line will fail because young women will be smarter than that, because we will resist the urge to be a plastic head, because we have lost the desire to idealize impossible breasts and feet that only fit in stiletto heels, but I don’t think that’s true. Instead, I think the people at MAC are on to something. I’m just disappointed that this is what’s being pitched to young women right now, particularly since I know that MAC…can do better.

Barbie as an icon has become synonymous with the mental image of a pony-tailed valley girl carrying her intestines around in her blood-stained Louis Vuitton (although this image has been altered further of late, with the realisation that impossibly small feet would also have real-life Barbie crawling around on all fours). While I fully understand the reservations people may have about fostering such an unrealistic view of the female form from a young age, I maintain that toys are the one place where unachievable chest measurements should be condoned.

Children are not idiots. They know that a doll is a doll just like a toy airplane is a toy airplane. And when a little boy finds himself to be an adult with neither the aptitude nor the desire to be a professional pilot, it hardly comes as a shock. Women aren’t expected to be dolls. Whether or not we can connect the OC to bulimia nervosa, a Barbie with a day wardrobe consisting of six ball gowns and scuba suit isn’t a role model for the modern girl. Continue reading ‘Barbie Loves MAC…and she lived in sin for 43 years’